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Four of the five teams that gave up the fewest points during the regular season are the last four left with a shot at the Super Bowl Tyron Smith Jersey Elite , something that had never happened since the NFL-AFL merger nearly a half-century ago.

And three of the four toughest to gain yards against are still around, too.

Still think that all a team needs to succeed in the modern game is an elite QB? Go ahead and take a close look at Sunday’s matchups for the conference championship games.

Sure, Tom Brady (assuming his injured right hand is good to go) and the New England Patriots will be playing for the AFC title, just like they always do, but they’ll be going up against Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over in the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles will send Nick Foles out to face the Minnesota Vikings and Case Keenum, hardly a marquee matchup between quarterbacks, and one set up by injuries to other signal-callers.

What this quartet of teams does have in common is solid defense, showing once again that while everyone is paying so much attention to one side of the ball, it’s the other that might truly matter the most. The more league rules and officiating tend to favor offenses, the more figuring out ways to slow that down is imperative.

”When you have a defense that can shut that type of firepower down,” said Brian Robison, a linebacker on the Vikings defense that ranked No. 1 in yards and points allowed, ”it allows you to win ballgames.”

Minnesota gave up 15.8 points per game. Jacksonville was No. 2 at 16.8, followed by No. 4 Philadelphia’s 18.4 and No. 5 New England’s 18.5.

”There’s teams that have really good defenses that aren’t talked about,” Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. ”We’re one of them.”

It’s the first time since the 1970 merger there has been that sort of defensive dominance among the NFL’s final four. The closest was at the end of the 2010 season Bengals Billy Price Jersey , when teams that ranked No. 1 (Steelers), No. 2 (Packers), No. 4 (Bears) and No. 6 (Jets) in points allowed reached the conference title games.

”The most heralded guys on the field are the quarterbacks. So I would say, nine times out of 10, your detail goes into your offensive planning and things like that,” said Jacksonville’s leading tackler, Telvin Smith, who returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown last weekend. ”Offense sells tickets, and defense wins championships. I’m happy I’m on the defensive side.”

He is part of a young, talented and speedy D that rose to prominence quickly via a combination of shrewd drafting (linebackers Smith and Myles Jack, defensive ends Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler Jr., cornerback Jalen Ramsey) and free-agent signings that panned out (defensive lineman Calais Campbell, cornerback A.J. Bouye, safeties Barry Church and Tashaun Gipson).

Take a look at the regular-season rankings in various defensive categories, and you can’t miss the Jaguars. That helps explain how they made it this far with Bortles, whose 84.7 rating ranked 22nd among QBs with at least 100 pass attempts and whose 13 interceptions were exceeded by only six players.

Campbell tied for second in NFL with 14.5 sacks Cheap Customized Denver Broncos Jerseys , while Ngakoue added 12 and led the league by forcing six fumbles. Bouye tied for third with six interceptions, while Ramsey, Gipson and Church each had four. As a unit, the Jaguars were No. 2 in yards allowed at 286.1, trailing the No. 1 Vikings (275.9), with the Eagles (306.5) at No. 4. The Jaguars were also second in sacks and total takeaways, while they topped the NFL with seven defensive TDs.

Exceptional defense can carry a team far: In nine of the last 10 seasons, the No. 1 or No. 2 team in points allowed participated in a conference championship game. The exception was 2015, when the Seahawks led the league in that category but lost in the divisional round, and the Bengals ranked second but lost in the wild-card round.

”Now it’s down to, `May the best defense win,”’ Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham said. ”We each get to showcase what we can do.”

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AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell in Eden Prairie, Minnesota; Kyle Hightower in Foxborough, Massachusetts; Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida; and Rob Maaddi in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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Kevin Harvick warned he was charging for the lead with taps on Kyle Busch's rear bumper over the waning laps. Harvick had failed to methodically work his way around the race leader with a clean pass, so he set aim with his Ford on Busch for the knockout shot.

Harvick nudged the right side of the Toyota and jostled Busch out of his groove and three lanes up the track. He zipped to the front with a textbook bump-and-run that led to a beer-soaked celebration and left Busch fuming 鈥?the move of the race in another stellar showcase for the leader of the Big Three.

Harvick outdueled Busch over the final 10 laps to win a thrilling battle of two of NASCAR's dominant drivers Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

"I felt like it was my best opportunity to do what I had to do to win Cowboys Dalton Schultz Jersey ," Harvick said. "I didn't want to wreck him. But I didn't want to waste a bunch of time behind him."

Busch, the temperamental 2015 series champion, had a different view.

"I think he could have made the move work cleaner than that," Busch said.

Busch said he expected for Harvick to keep trying for the decisive pass until there were about two or three laps left.

"I figured that's exactly what he was thinking," Harvick said, smiling. "I knew I needed to take the opportunity as soon as I could get it. We needed to do it when he wasn't expecting it."

Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers had exhorted Harvick over the radio to do what he needed to do to snag that checkered flag.

"He was in the lane that I needed to be in and as you get to the end," Harvick said, "you've got to be aggressive."

Harvick raced to his sixth victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing and finished in the top two in some order with Busch for the fourth time this year.

Harvick, Busch and Martin Truex Jr. 鈥?NASCAR's Big Three 鈥?have won a combined 15 times in the 20 Cup races. Busch has five wins and Truex, who was fourth Sunday, has four.

There was nearly an outlier in a race delayed more than three hours by rain.

Aric Almirola, who replaced retired Danica Patrick this season in the No. 10 Ford, threatened to crash the party and win his second career Cup race. He led for more than 40 laps late until he was derailed by a poor pit stop and then spun his tires on a restart that likely cost him his first win since July 2014.

"You think I'd be happy," he said.

Not in this race.

But it was a banner weekend for SHR: Kurt Busch won the pole and finished eighth; and Harvick and Almirola placed in the top five.

Almirola, though, was the latest also-ran to realize drivers have to be flawless to catch either of the Big Three.

Harvick http://www.redskinsauthorizedshops.com/a...onathan-allen-jersey , who won his 43rd career race, made the perfect pass in New Hampshire.

Harvick reeled off three straight victories at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix and went back-to-back in May at Dover and Kansas. It had been seven races since he reached victory lane.

He found the way again in the No. 4 Ford to celebrate again for Stewart-Haas Racing. His six wins are a career-best, topping the five he reached in his 2014 championship season and 2006.

ONE AND DONE

New Hampshire hosted its only Cup weekend of the season because track owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. transferred the fall playoff race to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. New Hampshire ran its first Cup race in 1993 and got a second date in 1997.

The track will fill the open date in September with the NASCAR Modified Tour. New Hampshire also plans to hold a country music festival in 2019.

Track general manager Dave McGrath said there was a modest ticket bump from Sunday's race compared to last July. He did not reveal attendance numbers.

"There's no significant drop year over year. We're holding our own," McGrath said. "I wish that everybody that was here in September was here in July but I think that's going to take a few years for that to truly take hold. The good news is, that level, steady (crowd) is a big win in my book. That clearly shows we're keeping those that we had and it's our job now to find that next group to come and be part of the weekend."

WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND

Loverboy played the pre-race concert in the rain.

Loverboy's song "Heaven in Your Eyes" was on the "Top Gun" soundtrack in 1986 and Tom Cruise recently started filming the sequel "Top Gun: Maverick."

Lead singer Mike Reno said he recorded a song he hoped would be used in the movie.

"We recorded it and I sent it out. I don't know if they're going to take it," Reno said. "I'm hoping they pick some nice retro music, rather than go with the new stuff. When you listen to the song we recorded for the new 'Top Gun,' you can almost hear the jets flying by."

SAFETY FIRST

New England Patriots safety Patrick Chung had been scheduled to drive the pace car for the race until rain hit.

Chung declined to discuss the NFL's national anthem debate that was reignited this week.

"Can't worry about things you can't control. It is what it is," Chung said.

Chung said he was ready for the Patriots to start training camp and put the Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles behind them.

"That game sucked," he said.

UP NEXT

The series heads to Pocono Raceway where Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.

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